Comments from elsquared

This theatre was still open after 1928. I was looking through the April 14, 1931 edition of the local newspaper (the Staten Island Advance) today, and the Richmond is listed as showing the film Ex-Flame, with Neil Hamilton and Marion Nixon.

The address that I’ve found for the Lyceum was 185 Sand Lane, which would fit information from various family members. My mother’s family first moved to South Beach around 1910, and operated a hardware store for almost 60 years. My grandmother still lived there until shortly before she passed away. What family has told me is that the funeral home has been there since the 1940s (at least), and the original building has been expanded. The theater was next door, I assume where a small parking lot is now. Whatever the true facts, information on this theatre has been very difficult to locate.

I canâ€™t post the photos I took today, but Iâ€™ll try to describe what the area looks like. The given address of 15 Nelson Avenue is basically a driveway and an empty lot. On one side is a Subway sandwich shop (address 5 Nelson Ave.), on the other is a tax preparation business (address 17 Nelson Ave.) The location in the photo shown here has been closed up, but would be number 23. However, the building next door seems to show a number 23, which could explain the number 23A for the restaurant. The actual entrance to the restaurant is around the corner on Locust Place. From here, you get a decent view of the entire theatre building, which is taller than anything on the block.